Technical Field
The present invention relates to 3D (three-dimensional) graphics processing, and in particular, it relates to methods for a programmable primitive setup in a 3D graphics pipeline and apparatuses using the same.
Description of the Related Art
Primitives, including triangles, lines and points, are required to set up their topology and attribute functions in a 3D (three-dimensional) hardware pipeline, and then they are rastered into tiles based on the topology functions, and the final colors are computed in the pixel shader based on the attribute functions. Normally, the primitive setup stages are handled by the hardware FIX (fixed) module. However, the traditional FIX module consumes excessive gate-count costs to realize the primitive setup operations. Furthermore, it is inconvenient to correct newly discovered errors after the chip is tape-out. The new bugs cannot be fixed and the new features cannot be added by engineers if the chip is ready. Thus, methods for a programmable primitive setup in a 3D graphics pipeline and apparatuses using the same are introduced to overcome the drawbacks.